Research and Planning- Georges Melies

Georges Melies

Georges Melies was a French illusionist and filmmaker renowned for his technical and narrative developments in the very early days of cinema. His creativity and originality blew the minds of his audiences and was the first filmmaker to have the idea of films having a narrative and not just being a form of documentary. His two most well-known films are "A Trip to the Moon" (1902)  and "The Impossible Voyage" (1904) are considered to be the first films of the genre of science fiction featuring bizarre costumes and sets very much reflecting ideas of fantasy and magic. He has inspired many film makers including even Walt Disney and now he will inspire me in the making of my work.

A Trip to the Moon (1902) 

Melies often hand-painted his film in order to add colour and detail to his carefully arranged films that were unarguably works of art. This has provided me with inspiration for my film. It caused me to consider editing my film so as to look like hand-painted colour rather than the typical vibrance of colour film today. Also to add more realism to it being an old film,I thought of adding crackles and blotches to the film.






After watching some of Georges Melies' films and watching a documentary on him that featured clips from his films, I have noticed common themes throughout and have thought about his style in depth. I have realised that most of his films feature a moon at one point or another whether it be in "A Trip to the Moon" or "The Astronomer's Dream" or "A Nightmare". I think the moon adds the feeling of a higher power that adds an element of magic and reflects Gothic themed ideas including skeletons, cauldrons, and magicians. Melies himself in fact began as a magician/illusionist, performing on stage and astonishing audiences with his clever tricks and unusual ideas.

I have thought that as a homage to Melies I may feature a moon at some point during my film. I found Melies' use of skeletons very inspirational as I realised this would be quite easy to recreate and is much simpler than many other of his much more exquisite/theatrical costumes.